COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT SPECIALIST

Overview The New York City Department of Veterans' Services (DVS) connects, mobilizes, and empowers New York City’s Veteran community to foster purpose-driven lives for service members, and supports their caregivers, survivors, and families. The New York City Emergency Management (NYCEM) coordinates citywide emergency planning and response for all types and scales of emergencies, staffed by professionals with diverse backgrounds. The Community Engagement Bureau supports community preparedness by guiding emergency planning and connecting organizations to the Emergency Operations Center. The Community Preparedness division provides programs to help local nonprofit and faith-based organizations build capacity to respond to and recover from emergencies, including Strengthening Communities. The Community Engagement Specialist will support the development and growth of the Strengthening Communities program and work with community networks to enhance preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation across New York City. The role requires creativity, proactive engagement, excellent community development and communication skills, and knowledge of New York City and its vulnerable populations. Responsibilities may include but are not limited to: Lead and coordinate outreach to faith-based organizations, community-based organizations, networks, and coalitions across the five boroughs. Recruit, onboard, and support new partners participating in the Strengthening Communities program. Facilitate community emergency planning training classes to build the capacity of community-based organizations and houses of worship to prepare for and respond to emergencies. Lead data collection and data analysis for the unit, integrating existing data into a centralized database. Implement a data analytics framework to measure program impact, partner engagement, and changes in community capacity over time; monitor and create reports in ArcGIS tools and other databases. Plan and conduct special community emergency preparedness events including public presentations and training workshops. Support and enhance internal coordination among community outreach and volunteer programs and other emergency planning initiatives. Serve as a reliable NYCEM Community Engagement contact to community and faith-based organizations and houses of worship. Support community emergency networks throughout the emergency management cycle (preparedness, response, recovery, mitigation). Collaborate with Ready NYC, CERT, and other NYC Emergency Management units to advance Bureau goals and programming. Serve as an Emergency Support Function (ESF) Coordinator in the City’s Emergency Operations Center. Perform any other tasks assigned by the Director. Minimum Qualifications & Requirements A four-year high school diploma or educational equivalent approved by a state’s department of education, or its equivalent, and six years of satisfactory full-time professional experience in emergency management, public safety, public health, public administration, urban planning, engineering, or related fields. A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college and two years of satisfactory full-time professional experience in the areas listed above. A master’s degree from an accredited college in emergency management, public administration, urban planning, engineering, economics, political science, the physical sciences, or related field and one year of satisfactory full-time professional experience (at least two years in one of the listed areas). Education and/or experience equivalent to the above; all candidates must have a four-year high school diploma or educational equivalent. Special Note: To be eligible for placement in Assignment Level II, after meeting the minimum requirements, one additional year of professional experience in the areas listed above is required. This position is classified as Experienced (non-manager). Additional Notes Preferred skills include: ability to interact respectfully with diverse communities, excellent written and oral communication and organizational skills; experience with community-based organizations, government agencies, and city-wide coalitions; experience in planning and managing community engagement events; ability to travel across NYC boroughs; proficiency with virtual platforms (e.g., Zoom, MS Teams); some after-hours and weekend work; bilingual or multilingual skills are a plus; experience with ArcGIS or similar tools is desirable. The agency emphasizes equal opportunity and will consider any equivalent combination of knowledge, skills, education, and experience. Applicants are encouraged to submit a separate cover letter in the attachments section of the application portal. The information presented here is for job description purposes and is not an offer of employment. #J-18808-Ljbffr Mission+